Roller Coaster Murder Case
by Leuny
Summary: An Outside Looking In Production. Kaitô Kid receives a mysterious note at one of his heists. Where will it lead him? FINISHED!
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer:** Was Detective Conan or Magic Kaitô in my possession, I would most probably be filthy rich now. And I would have continued Magic Kaitô – the Manga and the Anime series a looong time ago. Seeing as it isn't, I didn't do that. And I'm not rich (yet). Nevertheless, the Anime series definitely got a different design than the first (or even the most recent) Detective Conan episodes had, so I'm happy. It suits the charm of the anime series and I like it. Please keep doing what you have been & don't sue me for playing around with your characters and settings a bit, Aoyama-san!

_14:12 and a pro?_

_Cut your way through on the 13__th__ January._

_The information will be in the 5 o'clock detective's ride through darkness._

It wasn't signed. His eyes pivoted back to the small white piece of paper innocently sitting on the only table of the secret room for the fifth time since he got home. He'd been in the middle of a heist when he had found a note attached to his cape, and it was a mystery how it had gotten there. Neither Tantei-san, nor Tantei-kun had attended, it was just a normal run-of-the-mill heist, nothing special there. The note was the only curiosity he'd been able to pick up during his performance there – it most certainly hadn't been there before the heist began, thought it was possible that a policeman during one of the dog piles could have stuck it to his cape. It was easy to think of that as a possible explanation once he considered the number of those that evening.

He hadn't even immediately known that the note was stuck onto his cape, only when he had paused briefly in the little niche between two grand statues (he'd been running from one end of the museum from which he'd stolen to the other, with small breaks in hidden alcoves in-between) did he notice it. The sender was probably still in the area, he'd figured, though he might not find him. He'd run a few detours, checking the sloped rooftops and the police cars from out of the windows, but there was no one leaving the premises (as far as he saw) and via walkie-talkie the officers hadn't reported anyone else entering either. (beside him, of course)

It left the question of "who" wide open, of course. It didn't make sense to search more – the culprit must have been a police man (or at least disguised as such) and if he could get in undetected, he'd get out, too, save for him checking every single officer there was single-handedly during that one evening, in the hopes of catching someone. That maneuver was rendered moot when he considered a) the number of attending cops and b) the chance of him actually catching the "inside help".

And he hadn't seen anyone else but policemen that evening, too, so an outsider as the culprit was out of the question, either. It, however, brought up the question of just how far Snake's men had infiltrated the police. Snake, after all, was the only person he could think of to do such a thing in this underhanded manner. That was a worrying development that he should have foreseen a long time ago. It was still shocking for him when he got proof of that in form of the oh-so-annoying note pinned to his cape by way of duct tape. Of course it was a wonder it hadn't fallen off in the meantime.

He sighed in defeat. Working out the ways in which the police might or might not be infiltrated didn't help him figure out just where the bloody hell they want to meet up with him or how the hell he was supposed to figure it out. What ride were they talking about? What did they mean by "cut your way through"? A ride through darkness, a ride through darkness. A tunnel, maybe? By car? There were about ten million tunnels in Tokyo! Kaito's head turned towards the note again. A detective's ride at 5 o'clock? And one through darkness, moreover? The teenager-turned-thief was going at it the wrong way, he knew. There was something more in there. There had to be!

14:12 was obvious, he thought. It was a challenge. As though it hadn't been obvious just who it was for when the note was stuck onto his cape, no, they had to address him personally within the note, as well. 1412, really now? Hadn't they been able to think of anything more suave-sounding, like "To the Moonlight Thief called Kaitô Kid" or something the like? But it wasn't signed. Wearily he closed his eyes. That would be because he already knew who the most likely candidate to pin him such a note would be. Of course. No one else would think to give him such a crude message. It didn't hold a thing to the riddles his own heist notes were written in or a riddle from Tantei-san would present should he think of one. And he would figure this one out. Having found new encouragement, he faced the piece of paper with a strong, determined stare. Kaitô Kid wouldn't lose.

**AN:** Hint needed? Or do my patiently waiting readers manage to figure it out on their own?


	2. The Roller Coaster Murder Case

**Disclaimer**: Nope, I'm not rich yet. I'm still here, calmly sipping coffee with my friends in the heart of Europe. It certainly would be Japan if I had any say about the place. Then again, higher powers (such as god, fate, the universe, circumstances or just little old me) dictate that I have to still spend some time here until such a time that I have saved enough money to get out of the country and into the land of my dreams. That process certainly would have sped up considerably if I owned Detective Conan and/or Magic Kaitô… which I don't.

Nervously he pulled the white cap that he was wearing more into his face. He'd gone for a "normal look". In order not to stand out too much he'd disguised himself as a rather plain-looking, burly man in his mid-thirties who blended in perfectly with the crowd of onlookers that had congregated at the scene. The pullovers he had on were truly helping with that "burly look" he was going for. Impatient to get away, he wiped away the small beads of sweat that had gathered close to his eyes from the constant sprinting he'd been doing all day.

_RollerCoasterMurderCase_

Honestly! They couldn't have hidden the clue about the amusement park more, could they? It had taken quite a lot of guessing and pointless poking around in the fog of confusion that the note had sparked for him in order to find the answer. But once he had figured that "ride" was the most important clue in that last sentence, he'd only had to list all the "rides" that he could think of. The question of it being either am or pm had been eliminated early on, when he'd thrown a look at how his criminal number had been put down. 14:12. According to digital clocks, such a time could only mean the afternoon. Fortunately, most every ride there was (boat ride, train ride, he checked the plane rides even!) he could cross out, seeing as, according to the schedules, no boat, train or plane went through a tunnel or anything even remotely resembling something that could shade the passage anywhere near Tokyo at five pm.

As for the cars, that was where Kaito'd been on the wrong track at first. He'd played around with the word "to cut the line" – Kaito'd already looked up any and all place names that had the kanji for "to cut" in them. No such luck. They were all located either too far in the north (no way he'd be called to Kitta, close to Hokkaido, or to Kirize which was in the prefecture of Miyagi) or too far south for his tastes to have been a plausible place for a meeting (the others that he had been able to garner were to the north of Nagoya).

And for whatever inexplicable reason, the place name Kirigo typed into Google had thrown him for a loop by giving him the address of the Meiji Daigaku Hakubutsukan – the Meiji University Museum. That had made him pause shortly. Blink. Rub his eyes. And blink again for good measure. Then go on searching again.

Next he'd played around with the sounds of "to cut", kiru in Japanese. Kaito'd come to the solution that Kita-ku, Tokyo's special ward Kita (=north), would be the perfect phonetic fit, seeing as "kita" can also mean "it was cut". He'd disregarded that one rather soon, however, when he had realized that Snake and his men couldn't possibly expect him to do as much research as he was putting into finding out where the meeting place was going to be.

As he hadn't had any other hints or clues on what to do now, other than monitor the patrolling officers of Kita-ku and passing-through detectives, he had set himself to just that. The Shuto Expressway and the Nakasendô passed right through the ward, making it difficult for him to find out just when a police car would go underneath a bridge. Then again, he knew it would be a pretty pointless task and, until he could find out where the meeting place _really_ would be held, he'd be stuck.

Naively hopeful to be right despite already knowing the truth, he had positioned himself over one of the main bridges in the area, binoculars hanging off of his neck and a bottle of juice in his hand. The teenager had already walked around the area, finding out where any other bridges were located and trying to rack his brain what else the "five o'clock detective's ride through darkness" could mean. It had taken until half past four and about three to four couples with a balloon and candy floss in their hands and a heart made of ginger bread around their necks, and three more families decked with flags, balloons and t-shirts in the brightest colors until he'd made the connection with the riddle. As fast as that, he'd sprung up and run off. Kaito was sure he'd startled all of the passersby in his near vicinity.

_RollerCoasterMurderCase_

And now here he was, in the amusement park. "Tropical Land" – the only one with a rollercoaster called "Mystery ride" that went through a tunnel close to the end. That was as close to "detective's ride through darkness" as he was going to get, he was sure of it. Kaito was in the queue, dressed out in a dull light pink jacket, red trousers and a shirt – with a moustache for additional safety – and ready to ride on it, several minutes after the oh-so-mysterious five o'clock-ride that might have changed his life. Yes, he was late. That had been attributed to the fact that he'd needed this much time to figure out just where to go. Nevertheless, at five sharp he'd definitely seen the two men that had sat down in the last two seats of the cart and immediately known that there'd be trouble. Two men wearing long black trench coats and hats while on a funfair? That was as suspicious as it was going to get he knew. Never mind the grim faces they maintained all the time. With a disapproving frown – naturally attributed by any bystander to the way they had shamelessly jumped the queue just then – he watched them getting into the cart, having to wait himself for his own turn, seeing as he was several paces behind in the queue.

He'd been proven right when at the end of that very ride there'd been a murder victim to announce. Naturally, he had NOT counted on the presence of that Kudo detective who had hunted him once at that clock tower heist. Yet, a little more concealment didn't hurt, so he made sure to be absorbed by the mass of people without making it obvious. Subtly he fell back, turning around at the end of the room, all the while claiming queasiness and nausea as source of his growing uneasiness and discomfort.

Once outside, Kaito had to lean against a wall to steady himself. Quite frankly, that head – or lack thereof, for want of a better word – had been far more than disturbing. It had been a gruesome sight. Not that he hadn't been prepared for some action, but to have such a thing happen practically right in front of his eyes was alarming. He had doubts whether he'd ever be able to look at roller coasters the same. If he closed his eyes the teenager could still see the head, cut off at the neck and with all the blood raining out of it. Blergh! What a horrible image! Naturally he hadn't wanted to stay put to see just how such an end result had been achieved by the soon-to-be-prisoner. He had no illusions about whether the high school detective would be able to solve the case or not.

Wearily, he put a hand on his face. Already resigned to having nightmares about this for several nights to come, he decided on his next course of action and went off in search of the exit of the "Mystery ride". These scary men-in-black had to come out of there sometime, right?

**AN**: Like it? Hate it? Want to complain about Kaito's choice of attire? Comments are greatly appreciated! J Hope everything was clear to you, regarding the riddle! If not, please tell me so I can change things to make it better! ~ aiming to improve, always ~

MnC21: Thanks for that review on the last chapter, btw! :-D It made me dance & jump around and be bouncy all day ^_^

And many many thanks to my beta, LostInTheDreams! This story wouldn't have been put online without your help!


	3. Following Laurel & Hardy

**Disclaimer**: Well, the quality of my coffee hasn't changed yet, so it's easy for me to say that I do not own Detective Conan and/or Magic Kaitô.

"The murder investigation didn't even take half as long as one of Hakuba's would have", he thought to himself as the suspects, along with the police, filed out of the roller coaster's exit. As he'd visited (aka: had been dragged along on) some of his fellow student's investigations, together with Aoko, safely standing on the side lines and not even getting a glimpse of any murder victim (not that there were all that many to complain about: Hakuba mainly did retrieve lost things or people nowadays, stating there was more of a reward to be found in them), he could safely state that this case – especially considering that it had been a murder investigation – was by far the shortest he'd ever been on.

His musings were cut short when the men-in-black exited the building and his eyes followed them inconspicuously from the next food stall. Kaito had been standing close to the mass of people congregating there, waiting for just those two to come out. Internally, he smirked to himself. Let the chase begin.

During the next hour or so he subtly followed them – always making sure to keep more than a few people between him and them and checking whether or not they'd noticed him at irregular intervals. And, with a sinking heart, he'd realized that at times they'd definitely noticed someone following them. At least the bigger one of them had. The smallish one – he'd dubbed him Hardy in his head some time ago – seemed to be thicker than the Laurel-like character. That one he'd have to be careful about. He was already looking dangerous, what with that grim, thin visage of his and his eyes… those eyes were the most disturbing feature. They were calculating, staring at their surroundings as though all the time carefully evaluating every and any advantage he could get over the people around him. Those were not the eyes of an upright individual, at all. Goosebumps made their way from his neck down his back when he thought about what or, more disturbingly, whom they reminded him of.

Snake.

That man had the same glint in his eyes that this shady character had. Although Kaito had gotten the feeling that "Laurel", as he'd nicknamed the blond, black trench coat wearing man, despite having that certain glint in his eyes in common with his sniper No. 1, was far more… he gave off a far more… evil… vibe than Snake ever had. Increasing his cautiousness tenfold, Kaito now made doubly sure he wouldn't be conspicuous to their eyes. It had seemed easy earlier, but when he put his observations into the equation, it made for a much more difficult and important task.

Just what did those men intend to do? Where were they headed? As far as Kaito could see, there wasn't any clear goal in sight. "They are wandering around aimlessly", he thought, "Why?" It was only after another hour of this, that he found out. The sun was already on its way to setting when he noticed the crowd thinning and the two men finally stopping at the entrance of an alley made of several stalls and house attractions. They stood there, looking around every few minutes as though waiting for someone. After about twenty minutes of this, when nobody came, "Hardy" walked off briskly in the direction of the roller coaster. Kaito kept sitting on a bank close to the fountain that was located right opposite of the alley entrance, about a hundred feet away from "Laurel", waiting for what the other would do.

When that one went off into the alley, an uncomfortable feeling grew in the pit of his stomach. What was wrong? He didn't know. Kaito couldn't put a finger on what he perceived as "wrong" exactly, he just knew something was off. It was just a feeling, an instinct telling him to be even more cautious or to run for it like hell. It was a useful instinct; it had saved him several times from bullets when a sniper had targeted him on one of his heists, so he heeded it now, too.

Changing into a different costume – a different person – behind some refuse containers close to the entrance of the alley, disguised as a female university student in high heels wearing a blue mini skirt and a nice T-shirt, he swiftly stalked off into the alley, hard on Laurel's heels.

**AN**: I just thought that his was too good an end to go on… and the image of Kaito posing as a woman…. Hehe. And oooh suspense! How I love that….! Stay tuned for the next one!


	4. The Trap

**Disclaimer**: Nope, still don't own neither the Manga nor the Anime of Kaitô Kid or Detective Conan. Have fun!

**AN**: I am sorry for any mistakes you might be able to see in this chapter; it unfortunately hasn't been to my beta yet. I, myself, went through it more often than I can count after I wrote it, though. I wanted to give you the long-awaited update badly, so here it is! Please review and tell me about any mistakes you might find!

"Laurel" had exited the amusement park – with Kaito in hot pursuit and changing appearances – a while ago, going by foot towards a different destination that Kaito had no idea about. He'd tried finding out just where they were headed by attempting to find a pattern in his prey's wanderings, but there didn't appear to be one. "Laurel" could have just as easily been a piece of paper floating in the air after which he was following, he thought. The wind was as unpredictable as the man's route was. Nevertheless, Kaito decided to stay more and more in the shadows' cover, seeing as there were less and less people around the farther they travelled.

_RollerCoasterMurderCase_

Kaito knew something was wrong when after more than twenty minutes of following and playing hide-and-seek with the man in the trench coat his quarry still hadn't looked back to look if he was being pursued. And they hadn't come too far from the amusement park at all. It could still be seen by the naked eye whenever there was no building in the way. Concerning the more pressing matter, however, Kaito could clearly see the difference: the man in the trench coat had glanced back surreptitiously almost all the time when they'd been in Tropical Land. He frowned in thought. What could have changed for the man not to look around anymore? An uncomfortable feeling was growing in his stomach to slowly spread and envelop all his other body parts. That can't be right, can it? In order to stay calm he willed himself to disregard the obvious conclusion his thoughts had come to in favor of watching the man more closely. He can't have possibly found out… that Kaito had been the one trailing him.

Then something happened that made his hairs stand on end. The man had turned into a small alleyway that led away from the main street and then, after turning another few corners, he'd gone into an alley that Kaito _knew_ led to a dead end. When he had followed suit, the man hadn't been there. He'd lost him. There was also no door or window looking into that alley. When he let his eyes travel downwards, he couldn't see a sewer cover as he'd expected to. When he looked up, he couldn't see any rope or ladder to pull the other man up, but then again, if it had been a makeshift ladder, they could have pulled it up before he came running to the entrance of the alley. Only a big refuse container that was leaning at a wall at the end of the alley drew his attention.

He was about to take a step forward, when he felt eyes watching him from behind. "Danger" his instincts told him. He'd swiveled in place as fast as he could, but still wasn't able to make out anyone in the near vicinity. And then, somehow, he knew. "Laurel" had been leading him there. The other man had known about him trailing them. That had been the reason why they had split up. This was a trap. His eyes grew big as saucers in dawning realization.

He felt like a rat. A stupid, common garden rat. Who had just unknowingly walked into the unknown men's trap, arrogantly thinking they'd never find out who had been following them. The realization that he had made a mistake hit him hard. It left his head spinning, instincts taking over. And that was all that counted at the moment, as he reacted on instinct and ducked, only feeling a sharp wind graze his hair by inches. It had saved his life, Kaito knew as he looked up. There. Something glinted shortly in the moonlight up on a balcony not too far away. That was all he had to know. He beat it.

Now, Kaito wasn't known at all as a coward. However when there were snipers involved (as there apparently were) and when he wasn't on a heist, moreover, he saw it prudent not to die, especially as a civilian and before attaining Pandora. But he was curious. So he came running back to Tropical Land one last time that evening, just to see whether he could track down his men-in-black again there. He didn't really know anywhere else to look for those two, but, considering that the other one had deliberately led him away from there, something had to happen there. Something big, presumably.

He had the good sense to change his appearance again, but other than that, he still kept to the shadows and the masses of people entering the park. Fortunately he'd let the guard hand him a re-entry ticket in form of a stamp before exiting the park, so he had no trouble getting in again. Deep in thought and on the look-out for a man-in-black, he narrowly avoided being run over by a policeman. A frown later, another one ran by, as well, disappearing in the direction of the Mystery Coaster.

He shrugged. It could be linked to the men-in-black. Then again, it might not be related at all. Kaito rather doubted they'd let themselves be caught by normal policemen of all people. So he paid the uniformed men no mind. Instead, he began with the doubtlessly tricky search for one of the trench coat wearers.

_RollerCoasterMurderCase_

Half an hour later, with his feet aching a bit from all the exercise they had been getting that day and having gone through the whole park once – even checking the not-so-common places like behind the attractions or small hiding places in-between, but still staying clear of the one place where there seemed to be police swarming around – he gave up. They seemed to have disappeared into thin air. He couldn't find them anywhere in the park. But then again, he was only one person. He could have easily missed them. They could have already exited the park. There were so many variables to consider that he already deeply regretted having lost sight of them before, even though it had been as dangerous as to have him run for his life. Never mind the fact that they didn't necessarily have to double back to the park, like he had done, in the first place. The action they were anxious to get over with – whatever it consisted of – could have happened ages ago with him none the wiser.

He ran out of options fast – mostly because the park was close to closing time –, so his steps brought him back to the exit of the park. Wearily, the teenager-turned-thief let out a long sigh. It was just another dead end, he conceded to himself. Just another failure to get … what was it that he'd hoped to have gotten out of this, anyways? Information? A chance at capturing Snake? A lead to Pandora's hiding place?

Kaito didn't know any more.

It had certainly not been snipers out for his life, he snorted to himself. He was confused, weary and exhausted. The day had been far too long for his tastes, so he started his long walk home, just having exited the park. Because he had had to come to the amusement park this fast, he'd had to take a taxi earlier, meaning that he had spent almost all the money he had packed on the one trip going there. There wasn't enough left for a train, never mind a bus ride back he mused, staring at his open purse, annoyed.

That was the moment when he felt a small form slam into him from behind, making him fall hard on his rear and the purse out of his hands onto the floor right beside him. Sparing the light of the street lamps a short but grateful thought, he only just caught a glimpse of a green jacket running quickly on two small feet away from him. Hit by a strange sense of déjà-vu, all the teenager-turned-thief could do was stare after the jacket that was slowly disappearing into the night.

Raising an eyebrow at just how strange this whole day was turning out to be – and hoping that it didn't turn out any weirder, he could do without all the snipers, thank you very much – he shook his head slowly and got up. He was just thankful that the purse hadn't disappeared into the sewer that it was lying close to.

Kaito chanced one last glance back at the still-lit-up amusement park right behind him, then slowly turned to go. He felt like he'd been kept out of the loop. Like he was the only one not getting an immensely big joke. All the way home, he imagined the waxing crescent moon laughing at him for having missed something extremely obvious. It was something that linked all of these incidents together, he knew, but he couldn't for the life of him figure out what it was.

**AN**: This one was actually only supposed to be a short story, telling the story of how Shinichi shrunk to Conan from Kaito's POV… but now, it might have just evolved into something bigger! I'm thinking of this as laying the "foundations" for a sequel-ff… stay tuned! I've got another MK-ff that I'd like to release beforehand, with which I'm hoping to explain and/or develop some of Kaito's maturity that he always shows off in DC-cameos, so… it's bound to be interesting! I'm slowly building up on those! Stay tuned for my next fanfiction! And I'd like to **Thank ****You ****Very ****Much ****For ****Reading** this and staying with me for so long, my dear readers!


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